Magic: The Gathering: The Megathread: Tenth Edition

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Magic: The Gathering: The Megathread: Tenth Edition

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

In terms of pet names my playgoup has always been fond of Simon (short for simon insanity) for Sire of Insanity. Makes for fun commander games.

One of us: *Tap mana and play demon* Simon says dump your hands!
Everyone else:

# ¿ Feb 7, 2014 15:42

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 02:01

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Count Bleck posted:

Sire of Insanity hitting the board isn't fun for anybody in Commander games.

Unless you're the Nekusar

Or Jund dredge! :allears:

# ¿ Feb 7, 2014 15:48

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Mortimer posted:

Pay 1 life: MTG

If this thread were to have a subtitle, this should be it.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2014 13:28

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

uggy posted:

That hates all his own hatebear friends

He hates himself too.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 20:54

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Samael posted:

Mini UK based rant- So I hear a lot of price gouging accusations on regards to SCG but the main UK singles store (magic madhouse) are selling brimaz for $53 dollars EACH, where-as SCG are selling for $30 each and that's just one example, every card on the site is vastly overpriced. You would need to be loving crazy to buy there, but there are only around 4 UK big singles sites and they can just charge what the hell they want. I am just happy that MCM and helpful buying/selling FB groups exist but even then it is a risk from buying off a complete stranger and not a reputable company. I know I have said this before in the thread but you US guys really don't know lucky you are regarding magic cardboard prices.

Magic Singles is better than Madhouse in terms of price but they also have trouble stocking format staples, worth a look at the very least.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 12:04

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

rabidsquid posted:

If you want to play Keranos as an attrition based card you're turning it into the UR Primeval Bounty. There is no way you want to play that card without being able to turn it into a creature, because the static abilities on it don't compare favorably to a 5 mana Planeswalker, which is sort of what it becomes otherwise.

I've been brainstorming decks for Keranos for the past few days and I think I've come to the same conclusion, people have been writing off the card because of this but I think you can make a devotion based deck work with U/R that doesn't run terrible cards just for devotion. If we run no creatures with less than 3 toughness, along with izzet charm, turn/burn, swansong, rapid hybridization, frostburn weird and anger of the gods we have a good solid anti aggro base. Then add a few permanents to handle the long game like Claustrophobia, Hammer of Purphoros, Ral Zarek, Thassa, Keranos & Jace. I've even stuck in a cheeky Niv-Mizzet. This leaves us somewhat open to burn decks but we've always got the sideboard for that.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 10:31

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:

So I just threw this together.

4 Godless Shrine
7 Plains
7 Swamp
4 Mutavault
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Xathrid Necromancer
4 Precinct Captain
4 Tormented Hero
3 Athreos, God of Passage
4 Sin Collector
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Thoughtseize
2 Ultimate Price
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Bile Blight

Sideboard
1 Pithing Needle
4 Duress
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Doom Blade
2 Drown in Sorrow

Is there any reason not to run out and buy this deck right now?

EDIT: Not sure on the Precinct Captains, may swap for Daring Skyjek.

Add an Obzedat or 3

# ¿ Apr 12, 2014 19:06

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Samael posted:

Interesting! Are you going to any GPTs for manchester? If you are I might see you there, I am still debating whether to register for some, considering it's quite near me. It will be my first event bigger than a FNM, I am really worried about it, haha.

e: grammar

Same here, just FNM's at the Manchester FLGS - but tempted!

# ¿ Apr 13, 2014 13:24

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Madmarker posted:

Both a flavor violation AND memory issues.

Red is supposed to suck at long-term planning. It is impetuous and emotional, and does things immediately. It gets additional resources until the end of turn because it represents Red having a moment of brilliance and following through right now, without reasoning or holding onto that idea for later. Red is the color of the Id, being able to hold off on doing something until later is not red.

Then make it instant speed, to represent it being a flash of genius when in danger.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 20:52

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Attorney at Funk posted:

Sacrifice with Rescue from the Underworld: Atlas Shrugged

Sounds like the makings of an incredibly dumb and fun Grixis Control deck.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 12:02

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Eeevil posted:

People are guessing Theros is going to go back to the status quo now that Xenagos is (apparently) dead, but do we know if anyone has ever actually killed a god on Theros before? Seems like that might be kind of a big deal.

Further to the point, was there ever a R/G god before Xenagos? I had assumed it was a forgotten god that would resurface but I'm not too up on my greek lore.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2014 08:34

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Hex is based off of Magic - I don't think anyone could or would argue otherwise, but that's not the point. This lawsuit certainly seems like flexing their considerable resources to try and push a competitor out of competition because from the looks of it they don't really have a legal leg to stand on. I'm not here to talk about the lawsuit however, just to address the idea that it is JUST a straight ripoff. They can't hold an iron grip onto gameplay ideas, and it's not like Hex are just taking all of the memorable magic cards, changing the name and selling it. There is a fantastic OP for the HeX Thread that I recommend you guys read to get a better idea of the differences, but I'll try and briefly summarize.

PvE - The first major addition to the magic formula is PvE, which let's you progress through dungeons facing encounters along the way, logic puzzles, branching paths and little storylines for each dungeon. In addition, you win PvE exclusive cards for winning encounters/dungeons, as well as equipment to put on cards to change how they work. Then there are 3 player raids that operate somewhat like Archenemy, Mercenaries that are like supplemental Commanders that have interesting abilities, and your own Champion that you level up over time to unlock new abilities. This aspect of the game is entirely free and is one of the main selling points of the game, although unfortunately it is internal testing with Cryptozoic and is not available for anyone outside of the company to play.
Digital Only Mechanics - This is a bit of a nebulous concept, but essentially a digital space allows the designers to do things technically possible, but a nightmare to track. There are cards like ragefire:

This card has been tweaked slightly since it's original design but you can start to see the possibilities.

This isn't touching on the transformation cards that take the double sided cards and massively expands upon them past what was possible in paper.
Consistency of State changes - This may be a wrong word for it, but I refer to how changes are permanent. If you flicker a creature in Magic, it loses its counters, and if you bounce a token it touches the graveyard then disappears forever. The equivalent of 'Tokens' in Hex will stay in the graveyard, can be redeployed, and so on. This may seem like a small thing but there are some neat tricks you can do with this. There are Permanent Buffs that persist even through being bounced, and in addition, there is a concept of 'Reversion' on certain cards. This reverts a card back to it's base state - Even if that card has been transformed into something entirely different.
Champions - This and the next point are really to be viewed together because they essentially address the same perceived issue by some of the TCG fanbase of games like Magic, that is to say the concept of mana flooding. Champions are like a permanent enchantment that can't be removed that gain a charge every time you play a resource card. Reach a certain number of charges and you can cash in those charges for an immediate effect like drawing a card, giving a creature flight permanently, fusing two creatures together into some horrible flesh monstrosity or similar effects. This is a subtle thing that at least gives the player some value if they find themselves drawing nothing but resource cards turn after turn.
Threshold - Instead of resources being permanent cards in play you tap for mana, instead they provide colourless mana that forms a pool to cast anything with. In order to stop anyone from just casting any coloured spell they implemented the concept of Threshold, wherein upon playing a Ruby Shard you permanently gain one Ruby Threshold, allowing you to cast Ruby spells with one threshold. This is kind of awkward to explain but is relatively straightforward in practice, if you have 3 one mana spells that require one ruby threshold, you can cast all three of them in the same turn assuming you have 3 mana in your pool as long as you meet that one threshold requirement.

I didn't want to preface the post with "I'm a longtime Magic player and...", but I am and I would be happy that Hex exists even if you have no interest in personally playing it - If Hex is even remotely successful this puts pressure on Wizards to actually make a meaningful online client that has a modern UI with competitive pricing. Competition is only a good thing for the consumer, and dismissing it as a ripoff and hoping that WotC squash them out of existence is in a sense wishing for the status quo to continue, and I was under the impression everyone was united in wishing they'd hire competent programmers and make a client that is a joy to use rather than a necessary hindrance.

# ¿ May 15, 2014 09:08

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Soothing Cacophony posted:

Thanks for this. Threshold is still sorta confusing, but from what I gather, it's like as if you have 1 Mountain, you can cast as many spells with R in the mana cost, unlike Magic where you'll only cast 1. That's a little different for sure.

I think you're absolutely right in not wanting the status quo to continue and that it's good to vote with your money for a company to do things better, but I really can't act like Cryptozoic has the moral high ground here when they've nearly copied Magic's game mechanics, balance, and even some of the simpler cards. Just because a company isn't doing what you want with a product doesn't mean someone else can wholesale lift it and do it themselves. Or maybe it does, a lot of people keep citing copyright law, but come on.

I guess I should disclaimer this with I only play paper Magic and have never been interested in MTGO (because it looks like hot boiled rear end). I'm insanely interested in Hex now for sure, and if it came out and was as slick as DotP with the convenience of MTGO, I'd probably play the poo poo out of it. But just because Hex looks cool as hell and WotC loving sucks at making MTGO doesn't suddenly blot out the fact that a LOT of Hex is just lifted from Magic.

e: I still seriously can't get over lifting the color pie, of all things. That's the most damning part of it, it's such an iconic Magic thing and such an easy place to make the game your own, lifting that is just stupid. Cut green and roll it into the other colors, make a 6th, jesus do anything.

Let me start off by saying I agree with you, they should have done more and there are a lot of very obvious analogues between the two games and that's absolutely on them, and they don't have the moral high ground. However, I think I do somewhat understand their reasoning for how their base game operates, as they were taking a huge risk with the game. For starters although it was not their first card game, it was their first video game, and a kickstarted one to boot - they needed a way to drum up interest in the game and I imagine their thought process was 'What better way to excite than to start with the fundamentals from the best?'. Regardless of the morality of the design choice, it certainly looks like they had every right to, providing that they skirted well clear from the patents that Magic did have (they are very careful to never refer to Exhausting cards as 'Tapping' for example).

They also have stated that this first set is deliberately restrained as it is the introduction to the game, they don't want to scare people away with lots of complexity so their cards had to start off fairly basic. While I cannot even hope to defend the direct card analogues from one game to another, the fact that their unique cards are so interesting (transforming cards, escalation, inspire and some of the dwarf/robot cards) gives me and a lot of the backers for the game faith that future sets will do a lot more to distance the two games just because they can start to experiment a bit more liberally. You even start to see this reflected in some of the PvE cards they've previewed, which they can go a bit wild on because they don't have as much pressure to make it super balanced, take Spectral Assassin for example:

This is really cool! And if you wanted to build a deck around it you could give your champion equipment that specifically powers it up, like this:

Silent Strike Armor - Armor: "When this troop dies, put it from your graveyard into your hand, and it begins stalking a new target."

There's a very interesting discussion to be had about business practices in Gaming - in particular the adaptation (and sometimes wholesale replicating) of gameplay mechanics made popular in successful franchises, but it is a practice that exists pretty much everywhere. Tell the fanbase of Candy Crush Saga they are playing a Bejeweled clone and I'd doubt they'd care, JRPGs are like some weird incestuous hot pot of copied game mechanics, story beats and character designs. Hell, Mantic Games are making a name for themselves entirely off of the back of taking Games Workshop franchises and sticking a new coat of paint on them. Once I got past the morality of it, I realized that hey this is pretty cool!

# ¿ May 15, 2014 17:07

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Vomax posted:

Can you get double uses out of your land mines with the new red legendary?

Negative, as the sacrifice is part of the cost.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2014 17:23

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Edit: Whoops, wrong thread - Anyone know if Teferi is standard intended or is it just a commander thing.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 20:23

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

Is the lack of a fourth toughness what has people so apprehensive about this card? Because it seems pretty sweet from where I'm standing, but admittedly it's a little bit of a shakier card in a format with Lightning Strike.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 10:37

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 02:01

LightReaper: May 3, 2007

bhsman posted:

It feel like a card that I'm going to pull in place of a fetch land a whole lot.

Well I would imagine most rares in this set will be disappointing pulls when compared to fetches, but this still seems good?

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 10:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Magic: The Gathering: The Megathread: Tenth Edition